I finished this last night - it's a 70th birthday present for a very good friend of mine.

It's based on a 'generic' 16thC hunting style of dagger (still also used by sailors a century or two later). The shell guard and pommel are brass, which I carved and turned myself. The 10.5" carbon steel blade is the only part I didn't make myself, but I did have to re-grind and sharpen it.

By complete chance, it's turned out to be really well balanced and lively, and it's a pity I have to let it go, but I know it will be looked after and cherished by its new owner.

It's mine- and no need to worry as 'tis legal as I have insurance and other evidence to prove that I am a reenactor and a martial artist ( and paperwork to prove I am both sane and not a convicted criminal and allowed guns and explosives) so Joolz can sell it to me without cause for concern

I thought I would add to this thread with another project along similar lines.

I liked elements of Phil's cuttoe so much that, as a present to myself, I thought I would make a long dagger/dirk along similar lines. Again, I did all the brassware and woodwork myself, but the blade is a (heavily modified) parrying dagger blade (I always keep a few of these in stock, sharp and blunt, for projects such as this). It's big (19.5" overall) with a 13.5" blade, but it doesn't look cumbersome, just slim and elegant!

It's taken me a couple of days to make (thank god for the long bank holiday weekend) but it's been fun. One for my permanent collection, I think!

And another one, this time every single part of it (except maybe the blade) has 8 facets, which gives it a 'Germanic' angular look that nonetheless feels very comfortable and practical. The main cross guard and the side guard combine to give lots of protection to the hand (although they would possibly be better done in steel for durability - but brass is nice and shiny.....).

And finally (for the time being, anyway) another one. This time something plainer, with no fancy shell/side guard and much more workmanlike brassware and woodwork (antique piece of walnut, this time). Another 13.5" blade, with a few signs of use. This is the kind of thing I would like to carry in the field, with a boar-spear or a crossbow on my shoulder, and a pair of hounds at my heel.......

Just finished polishing up another one this morning - this time, I wanted to make one which had a 'maritime' feel to it (let's say a 'whiff of grog' or 'smell of the salt air'!!).

I used another of the 13.5" blades like the ones I used in the other daggers (I don't have many of these left - possible commission for one of you blade makers out there.....). Grip is made from an old piece of oak. All the brassware I made myself from rod/bar/etc.

To give it that 'sea dog' look, I added a compass rose/north star feature pinned to the pommel cap. This is another one of those daggers (like the last one, above) which I could carry all day - simple, practical (for a dagger!) yet elegant.

Joolz wrote:Just finished polishing up another one this morning - this time, I wanted to make one which had a 'maritime' feel to it (let's say a 'whiff of grog' or 'smell of the salt air'!!).

I used another of the 13.5" blades like the ones I used in the other daggers (I don't have many of these left - possible commission for one of you blade makers out there.....). Grip is made from an old piece of oak. All the brassware I made myself from rod/bar/etc.

To give it that 'sea dog' look, I added a compass rose/north star feature pinned to the pommel cap. This is another one of those daggers (like the last one, above) which I could carry all day - simple, practical (for a dagger!) yet elegant.

Joolz

I like this last one very much indeed Mr. Jools of the cleverness, thats a nice looking bit of kit .

As promised, here's the last of this type (for the moment, anyway). I just finished it this evening.

The grip is a lovely piece of laburnum wood. All the brassware etc. I made from sheet/bar stock. The blade is 13.5" long like those above. I'm pleased at how it's all come together so well, as it was pretty much designed and built whilst running in and out of the house between rainstorms and gales (I mainly work outside)!

Out of all of the daggers I have made over the past few months, I really couldn't say which is my favourite - they all have design elements that I love (otherwise I wouldn't have made 'em in the first place!). Besides, I'm already planning my next 'batch'........

Well, I considered starting a new topic, but this one seemed entirely appropriate, so here goes:

My latest piece has been something I've been meaning to make for ages, but just wating for an appropriate donor sword to tinker with.

I found it in the form of the Windlass German Bastard Sword, which turned out to have just the right profile blade for my purposes. Anyway, after much chopping, filing, sanding and polishing, I have a weapon fit for chasing a boar aroung the woods with, should I ever feel the need......

I just have the cross-bar to add to the end (just like the fella on the right of the attached pic from the 'Triumph of Maximilian'), and my early 16thC boar-hunting sword will be complete. Then I have my spear to make......

And to continue the hunting theme, here's the start of the companion piece to the Boar Sword - a Boar Spear!

The head is finished, I just have to mount it. I have the ash pole, but I think I will carve the haft, as most of these had something to improve the grip (usually a criss-cross of leather thonging studded in place). But I fancy something just a bit more 'special'.

The typical leaf-shaped blade is 7" long. The rotating toggle (to stop the stuck boar running up the spear) is around 4" across.

It's the perfect addition to my 16thC hunting set! I'll post more pics when the woodwork is done.....

I carved the ash shaft with 67 quatrefoil paterae in a diaper pattern that covers just over half of the shaft. It greatly improves the grip you have on the spear, but also looks fantastic and really makes it look like a weapon fit for a 16th century monarch!

The decorative style was dominant up until the 1930s, but nowadays anything with decoration that would have seemed commonplace in the past is seen as fussy, unfashionable and overly expensive. Prior to the 20th century, if you wanted to produce a premium product, you added more decoration. Now, you make it plainer and simpler. How times have changed.

I'm sure I posted some simple ones on another thread. I'm working on some with fancy guards (possibly shells, too) for the New Year....

@AndyandHelen,

The carving only extends for around 3 feet or so (not 6'). I've been woodcarving for long enough that it didn't take an age to do, you just have to be very methodical and patient.

I taught myself decorative woodcarving when it became apparent that finding a competent historical woodcarver that wasn't phenominally expensive, was pretty much an impossibility. And yet, historical woodwork without the carved details was just so dull (and largely inauthentic whatever the period).

Here are a couple more 18thC style trade/hunting knives, resurrected from old carbon steel kitchen knives I find in junk shops. They are then cleaned up and de-rusted, re-shaped and re-hilted. Try it - it's a good way to get practice in cutlering and gives a new lease of life to an old knife.....

The smaller one is more of a patch knife, for cutting the patch on a round ball at the muzzle of a rifle. It has a walnut grip. Both are short tanged (around half the grip length) and pinned - an entirely historical form of construction.